parenting

Summer Update

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I’ll hopefully post again soon (maybe with haiku!) but first a confession: I have barely written a word since my kids started summer vacation.

If I start to talk about my feelings on this topic, there will likely be tears involved, and I’m not in the mood. Perhaps I’ll post about it later.

hotrod die cast model on board

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

However, I did write something right before school was out, and it ran in Tablet Magazine last week. “Game Over” is a personal essay–a nice, short read–about playing board games on long, summertime Shabbat afternoons and how a recent losing streak revealed a bit more of my inner ugly than I would have expected. You can read it here.

My Coronavirus Diary, Part 2

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man using laptop on table against white background

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I got several positive comments on the first part of my quarantine diary, so here are some more glimpses of life in the Klempner household while under Safer at Home orders here in L.A. Continue reading →

Glixman Sales, Writing While Parenting, and Other Summertime Thoughts

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I heard from the CEO of Menucha Publishers last week, and he says that while there are no official numbers yet, the sales of Glixman in a Fix are strong. I’m a bit frustrated because due to the timing (the U.S. release was just before Shavuos, and now my kids are all home from school), I can’t really spend the time and energy on promoting the book that I’d like.

Writing has been hard, too. I’ve tried to write in the early hours while my kids are still either asleep or curled up with a book, but everything is slow, slow, slow. Still, I managed to write a short essay last week, have added a bit to my novel-in-progress, and started a new short story yesterday.

I’m trying to remind myself that summertime brings all sorts of new and different experiences, especially with everyone home from school and no camp in sight. Hopefully, all those novelties will feed my writing once I have more time on my hands again. But I can’t help feeling frustrated.

Submission blitz

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Yesterday, I had a kid home sick.

Actually, yesterday, the day before, AND today, I had a kid home sick.

The first day, I got writing done. This was pretty amazing because I usually have problems writing when someone is in the house with me. Just the sound of breathing or a page turning in a magazine is enough to snap me out of FLOW and distract me. I can usually manage to do some editing with people around, but not writing. The fact that I actually wrote a first draft with a little cutie around on Tuesday blew me away.

Yesterday, though, it wasn’t happening. Continue reading →

“A funny thing happened on the way to staycation…” or “Happily Ever After as a breeding ground for faith”

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So, just as I gave up on blogging about books during summer break, my husband mentioned something tonight so post-worthy, that I just had to share.

Mr. K. has been reading Searching for Dragons to my children at bedtime for the last week or so. Tonight, he noticed a pattern in our youngest, just six years old: at peak points of suspense, when the story gets really “scary” for her, she starts to panic. Usually, he reassures her that there will be a happy ending. Continue reading →

Posted by Anonymous

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Okay, this is really not being posted by Anonymous. It’s plain ole me.

Writers live in the same world as the rest of you, which means we have to live with the people who read our work.

Yesterday Hevria began to post a series entitled “Truth And Dare.” The first post was by the outstanding writer, Chaya Kurtz. Entitled, “Backlash,” Chaya described the artistic desire to bare her opinions for all the world to see, but how when she did this, she suffered from the subsequent reactions that readers had. Today, sometimes she censors herself.

Anyway, it’s a fabulous post, and I recommend you read it, as well as the other pieces in the series.

When I commented on her post, a topic came up in the conversation I had with Chaya that has been on my mind lately — that being, is it right to publish anonymously or under a pseudonym? Continue reading →